Chapter 49: Using the Dynasty's Fortune to Resist

Li Xun staggered back to the government office, just about to return to his room to rest, when he saw a figure in the courtyard seemingly waiting for him.

"Master, you haven't slept yet?"

Gazing at that figure, Li Xun clasped his hands slightly, showing great respect.

This person before him was Xu Liang, the Grand Diviner of the Yu Dynasty, who had come together with them from Zhongzhou, a fairly skilled geomancer.

Xu Liang's martial cultivation had reached the Three Realms of the Venerable, and he also possessed a divine geomantic technique, excelling at avoiding misfortune and seeking good fortune, as well as calculating directions.

It was also because their main purpose for this trip was that relic; otherwise, Li Xingchao would not have summoned Xu Liang.

"Heir Apparent." Xu Liang turned and clasped his hands slightly toward Li Xun, then spoke solemnly: "Back in Zhongzhou, I had divined that your journey to Fenglin Town this time would bring danger."

"Master, with Father and you here, Xun'er has already reached the peak of Martial Master; what danger could there be?" Li Xun said somewhat nonchalantly.

Xu Liang shook his head slightly: "Heir Apparent, you should know—there are always greater people beyond, higher heavens beyond; even the realm of Martial Venerable is not the ultimate limit of martial arts."

As he spoke, his brows suddenly furrowed, his eyes fixed on Li Xun, and he asked: "Heir Apparent, where did you go today?"

Li Xun blinked, puzzled, and said: "Master, what's wrong?"

Xu Liang's face grew grave as he said: "This humble official sees a faint deathly aura on the Heir Apparent; that is not a good omen."

"Please, Heir Apparent, follow me so I can divine a hexagram for you."

Three ancient, smooth tortoise shells were thrown onto the ground. Gazing at the pattern they revealed, Xu Liang's aged face grew unusually solemn; he gathered the shells, then immediately lifted his head to Li Xun and said: "Heir Apparent, please tell this humble official exactly where you went today."

Li Xun, hearing this, grew anxious and said: "Master, perhaps you should first tell me the result of the divination!"

Xu Liang sighed and spoke in a low voice: "The hexagram shows that a mysterious power in the darkness is devouring the Heir Apparent's fortune; if this continues, he will suffer endless misfortune, even..."

"Master, just say it!" As a Martial Master at peak, Li Xun was rather open-minded about life and death.

"It could even cause the Heir Apparent to die an unjust death!" Xu Liang said solemnly.

"Devouring this Heir Apparent's fortune..." Li Xun stared slightly, then gave a wry smile: "Those fellows' tricks are truly impossible to guard against."

Not understanding why, he had already linked this matter to those shamans who possessed strange methods.

"Master, do you have a way to resolve this?"

The shamans' methods are unfathomable; although I feel nothing now, having been afflicted, it's best to stay cautious.

"This humble official will try." Xu Liang said, and suddenly a surging power welled up from his body; thereafter he formed a strange hand seal with his hands and pointed it at Li Xun.

But the moment his hand seal touched Li Xun's body, an extremely terrifying power suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

The next instant!

Boom!

A resounding explosion came from the void, and the strange necklace Xu Liang wore around his neck shattered instantly!

Pfft!

Xu Liang spat out a mouthful of blood, his body flung by an invisible force and slammed heavily to the ground!

"Master!"

Li Xun saw this, quickly darted forward, and helped him up.

"Cough..." Xu Liang opened his eyes weakly, coughing violently a few times, his face filled with shock!

Just moments ago, he was preparing to use divination to uncover who had acted against Li Xun, when that power suddenly appeared!

He could feel that the power had been weakened by ninety-nine percent at the critical moment by something, yet even facing that remaining trifle, Xu Liang still felt it as vast as a deity, impossible to resist!

If not for the ancestral bone relic passed down for a thousand years around his neck, which helped cancel most of the force, he would surely have been dead this time!

"Heir Apparent... this humble official is incapable..."

Blood continued to flow from the corner of Xu Liang's mouth, and his life force was gradually fading.

Li Xun quickly produced a purple pill from his bosom, stuffed it into Xu Liang's mouth, and used his own power to help dissolve it.

"What happened?!"

"Xun'er, Old Xu!"

The commotion obviously alerted Li Xingchao and Yun Jin, who lived next door.

They rushed over, and seeing Xu Liang gravely wounded, Yun Jin immediately channeled a stream of green‑blue true qi from her jade flute into his body.

With the pill and Yun Jin's aid, Xu Liang's formerly ashen complexion regained some color.

"Old Xu, what happened?" Li Xingchao asked anxiously.

He had just been cultivating in his room when he suddenly sensed an extremely terrifying power appearing above the government office; under its pressure, Li Xingchao could not even muster the thought of resistance.

Yun Jin felt the same.

Xu Liang struggled to his feet and, feeling quite weak, recounted what had just happened to Li Xingchao and Yun Jin.

Hearing his words, Li Xingchao's face grew grave as he looked at Li Xun and asked: "Exactly where did you go today, and whom did you meet?"

Li Xun dared not conceal anything, giving a detailed account of his movements today and offering his own speculation.

"Father, I suspect those shamans set a trap at the place where Wang Ergou died!"

Regarding this, Li Xingchao dared not make a decision, only able to look toward Xu Liang.

Xu Liang pondered a moment and said: "That is indeed possible; the shamans' lineage has strange methods, and using the terrain to set up a formation is nothing unusual."

As a geomancer, Xu Liang also possessed this ability, but judging from that power just now, the cultivator who laid the formation must be terrifyingly strong!

Even so, Xu Liang wondered whether the shamans wielding such power could still be considered mortal.

"Old Xu, what should we do now?" Li Xingchao said solemnly.

Li Xun was his only son and his pride; all his current schemes were to pave the way for Li Xun. If they could not break this formation, his son would likely meet with disaster, rendering all his past efforts wasted.

Xu Liang pondered long, then suddenly looked at Li Xingchao and said: "This humble official recalls that Your Highness bears a fate‑granting tablet bestowed by the Emperor."

Li Xingchao nodded repeatedly, then drew from his bosom an exquisite jade tablet of gold and jade; in the moonlight, it even emitted a faint glow.

Xu Liang took the jade tablet, glanced at it, and said: "This fate‑granting tablet can communicate with the fortune of our Great Yu Dynasty; the Heir Apparent wears it, so no matter how heaven‑reaching that person's ability, they could never oppose the entire Great Yu Dynasty by themselves."

Li Xun took the jade tablet, glanced at his father, saw him nod, and immediately hung the jade tablet around his neck.

……

In Fang Xu's courtyard, inside the room, his consciousness saw the second aperture vortex appear before him, and he felt a bit doubtful.

Did it just break through?

What about the promised aperture bulwark?

He cultivated until midnight, finally completely refining all the energy inside the inner gate aperture. He had originally intended to first examine the strength of the bulwark at the second aperture, then adjust his state, and break through in one go.

But when his consciousness arrived at the second aperture, he saw no bulwark whatsoever, and directly broke through.

"Strange..."

He muttered a sentence, gazing at the fish-belly white on the horizon; Fang Xu was about to rise when he suddenly felt a faint ripple in the virtual panel deep within his consciousness.

He immediately checked it.

"Huh! It went up!?"

In the virtual panel's friend list, the life value after Li Xun's name had actually become 78%.

It was clearly 75% when he added him as a friend last night; how did it become 78% now?

As for the remaining six friends, their life values have already fallen to 18%; at this rate, within ten days they will likely all die.

After careful study, he still couldn't figure out what was going on, so Fang Xu simply got up and went to the courtyard.

After washing up simply, he cooked some rice in a pot, then hurried straight to the Central Town Government Office.

Li Xun had instructed him yesterday to go early and wait for him; being late would endanger his life.

Bowing his head to save his life is nothing to be ashamed of.

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(End of chapter)